# Choosing a Name and Scope — Claude Code Skills & SKILL.md

Source: https://www.geekswithgeeks.com/en/claude-code-skills/w-name

> Make each skill do one job and name it so you can find it.

## One skill, one job

Aim for **one coherent job per skill**: "release-notes", "pr-review", "db-migration-check", "browser-automation". A skill that tries to do five unrelated things has a vague description, triggers wrongly and is hard to maintain; five small skills with sharp descriptions work better than one giant one. Names should be **lowercase with hyphens**, descriptive, and match the folder name; prefer verb-or-noun phrases that you would say out loud ("pr-review"), avoid clever names. Decide the **scope boundary** explicitly: what the skill does **not** cover (for example, "does not deploy; only checks readiness"). If two skills could both match a request, either merge them, sharpen their descriptions so they differ, or let one hand off to the other by name.

## Name it, describe it, structure it

The description decides whether the skill is used; the body decides whether it works.

![Four skills of writing: name, trigger, steps, limits.](assets/figures/claude-code-skills/section-2-map.svg) — Figure 2.1 — Name, trigger, steps and limits.

## Good and poor names and scopes

Names that say what the skill does, and scopes that say what it does not.

```text
POOR                      BETTER                       why
helper                    release-notes                says what it does
my_skill_v2               pr-review                    lowercase, hyphens, no version in the name
devops-everything         deploy-check, rollback-plan  one job each, sharp descriptions
stuff                     db-migration-check           discoverable by name and by description

Scope line in the body:  "Does NOT deploy or modify files; it only reports readiness."
```

**Quiz:** Why prefer several small skills to one giant skill?

- [ ] Small skills are always faster
- [x] Sharper descriptions trigger correctly and are easier to maintain
- [ ] Giant skills are not allowed
- [ ] It reduces the number of files to zero

*Answer:* Sharper descriptions trigger correctly and are easier to maintain. Focused skills have focused descriptions and bodies.